Jin Z, Yi X, Yang J, Zhou M, Wu P, Yan G. Int J Nanomedicine. 2021;16:3775—3788. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S313962

We, the Editors and Publisher of the International Journal of Nanomedicine have retracted the published article.

After publication, concerns were raised by a third party about the integrity of the data in Figure 5 and Figure 6 of the article.

Further investigation conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed unusual similarities present in the image panels representative of different treatment conditions in Figure 5F and overlapping image panels representative of different samples and treatment conditions present in Figure 6.

When approached for an explanation, the authors did not respond to the queries raised by the Journal and Publisher. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.